are you telling me if Mata was a foot back and was inside, then we are playing good? is that your logic?!! Saint dominated 30 min but they used all their energy unwisely so physically they dropped as a consequence and couldn't carry on that game style more when match fitness is not that good early in a season , we dominated rest of match aside from the last 5 min, our passing was good, just see our 3rd goal ..
Crazy how people view things completely differently. Not just here but elsewhere, though the vast majority do feel we turned it around and played well after the first 30. Some think we were dreadful throughout and don't have a good thing to say about the club (don't support it then, if something makes you miserable then seriously, why bother... Nobody on here BTW, you guys are calm compared to some of the ****ing idiots out there) while others simply look for the positives/negatives. This is the reality, we've just won two games, scored 6, seen our new (already written off) striker score 3 goals, seen ddg return, improved our attacking play ten fold and gone second in the league, closing the gap to two points. The only negatives are the injury to Shaw, the loss at PSV and the first 30 against Saints. Its mad. The more extreme ones are getting absolutely trashed over on the other forum mind, which is a good thing as they are ruining the best United site around. 13 points from 6, miles better performances (seriously, watch last season and the season before), 2 points of the tip and ahead of all our rivals bar the Massive one. All in all, its pretty good. That 3rd goal of ours was just great, the only shame is Memphis didn't finish it.
@Christiansmith http://www.redcafe.net/threads/45-passes-and-a-goal.409635/page-3#post-18167097 Try here. Scroll down to the poster, GifLord and its all 45 passes and the goal. It should say threadmark above it and should work where you are. If you haven't seen it of course.
The last 5 games is a much better indicator of where we are. You can see we're unpredictable, depending on the opposition. Play against a well organised defence coupled with a decent attack and we dont have a sniff of winning. Play against teams/defences who are average or poor and we look like mutton dressed as lamb. It's nice to be 2 points off top spot though... and tbf when I look around I can't say there are 18 other teams better than us in the league. Chelsea and Arsenal both have a soft underbelly. Liverpool are being led by Moses around the wilderness for 40 years and that just leaves Man City. But ofcourse, that also means we have a very real opportunity here of looking to win the title. What more could you want from your rivals. We really should be right up there all the way.
tbh .. we still dominate matches .. but we have problems in CB department , PL teams will focus on Blind aerial weakness attacking style, I think we pass the ball more than it should at times .. sometimes it works like yesterday.. sometimes it don't like facing Newcastle.. we need PLAN B & C more facing sides who sit back deep
Keep the ball, pass it around and probe for an opening. With a striker willing to get in behind this now has an outlet. It is, and has been for quite some time, our plan A.
A few posts back I quoted the last 5 games. In that sense it's not a great Plan A. All depends on the defence we're up against.
@custard @UIR Thanks re the 45 pass clip. A thing of beauty when it has an end-point like such a beautiful finish by Mata. Can be frustrating if at pass 40, the ball is lost and there is a counterattack and the defenders are out of position. We can understand from this clip why the LVG system means passes should be accurate, less risk to be taken, and lots of discipline from all the players.
Referring to the league here. Even though we had 17 Chance's with 5 on target v them so weren't exactly lacking in that match either. Compare this with the 1 short on target v spurs at the start of the season and theres been a shift in our attacking mentality. It is by no means perfect and we really need to make more of the possession and take risk but you see with the likes of BFS providing those killer balls, Martial and Memphis have already show a desire to give them that option. we didn't have that before.